Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-08-19
TIT sTocK-RANcH.
Care Of Pigs.

Aoo Aeeh 4efCl6e q 1aCten1ng animal
takes, says gssell, the quicker ii will fat
ten: and feeding pigs should be confined
with health anil comfort. The only pigs
that ought t have exercise ad lib. are
bears and bre&ing-sows, and the Young
ones that are Intended for these purposes.
Confinement il against nature, and not
conductive to health; but then obesity is q
form OF disease of degeneration of the sys-
tenn, and in the fattening of pigs there
must be aRreehent between cause and eff
feet; in addition to which, it is we'll to COM
Plete the process in the shortest possible
time. The fofs on which fattening pigs
lie should be dH aud clean, and the styes
should be wain, though we'll ventilated.
we think pigs de better without straw or
other litter to liz on, particularly If they lie
on boards. Thy always keep clean cor
ner to lie in whep they have no litter, and
If the corner j boarded they crowd on it
close together, ind are dry. clean, and
comfortable, KEEPING each other warm; but
when they have litter they are kept clean
and dry only " a plentiful and frequent
supply OF it. Tie atmosphere of the place
IS certainly sweeer without the litter, for
when straw becomes wet a slow ferment
sets in and naus(ous odors are evolved; in
winter the litter may be useful to help in
keeping the pigt warm, but in summer
they are bettenwithout it, and in any case
IT. only keeps warm the side they happen to
lie on, which is always warm when the
spot they lie on is dry and clean. Fatten-
ing pigs grow all the faster if they are
washed once or twice week and scrubbed
with brush each time, and they quickly
learn to like it. This plan keeps the skin
clean and it's pores open and lice cannot
prosper. Some persons recommend that
they should be "well groomed with brush
and l(nseed oil, which will cleanse the
skin hnd kill the lice; but we prefer wash
ing with water rather than oil, because it
is cleaner and cheaper. Though COM
monty dirty when left to his own resources,
a pig really likes to be clean, but he does
not know himself how to set about it.
Feeding for Profit.
The man who feeds best is the man who
makes the most money. Many farmers
thinkithey make money when they allow
animals TO get bone poor in winter, but
they are greatly mistaken. The only profit
ever made in fattened animals is what is
put Oh daily over and above the daily waste.
The daily waste is a constant integer, an
unavoidable one, and amounts to about
what the animal will consume in winter of
fairly well-cured hay if kept in comfort
able quarters. In severe weather when
cattle are kept out of doors the loss, even
when fed good hay, will often average q
pound day, and for the four winter
months of severe weather this would show
a loss of 800 pounds. All this must be
made up the next summer. If this thin
ming down could be prevented the COW or
steer would have SO much the advantage
to start in on when grass comes. Why not
keep the animal growing right along from
lambhoo,l, as the case may be? Those
who make money out of stock do so.
Did you ever figure on this integer of
daily bodily waste in the feeding Of ami
mails? If SO, you probably believe that
the only way 10 make money in feeding
stock is to feed fully from birth to the
butchers block. 1t is the only way to re-
duce daily waste to minimum and insure
tho largest profit for the food given.
This waste is partly in keeping up bodily
heat. Another cause of waste arises from
exercise, and still another from the fact
that the animal does not assimilate
all the food eaten. But this latter waste
the manure is not dead loss. If taken care
of it keeps the land in condition to raise
crops again to be fed out. The manure,
therefore, is all the farmer gets for the
food given on animal where it is SO fed as
simply to supply daily waste. The gain in
flesh represents his profit from the grain
fed. If beef is worth cents pound and
ne gets five pounds of flesh to the bushel
of corn, he receives rs cents per bushel for
his corn. If the bushel of corn makes
eight pounds the value Of the corn is 40
cents. In the one case the farmer might
come out about even; in the other the
profit on each bushel of corn fed would be
Is cents. It is a matter worth figuring on.
rbjcn0O Tb~ihnDe